By Rittwik Naskar
Kunafa or Künefe is a traditional Middle East dessert made from cheese pastry soaked in simple syrup. It's a crunchy, sweet, cheesy, creamy dessert that you can make at home following these simple steps.
500 gm kataifi dough, shredded 1¼ cup butter ½ cup pistachios 600 g mozzarella cheese 180 ml heavy cream 2½ cups sugar 1¼ cups water 1 tbsp rose water and lemon juice 2 tbsp dry rose petals
In a saucepan, add the sugar, water, and lemon juice and bring it upto high heat.
Once the sugar and water mixture starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes.
Once the simple syrup starts coating the back of a spoon, take it off the heat. Add the rose water to the simple syrup at this time.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a mixing bowl, add the kataifi dough and crush it up into smaller strands.
Pour the melted butter into the dough strands and mix it in to ensure even coverage. In a separate bowl incorporate the shredded mozzarella cheese with the heavy cream.
In a 12-inch oven-proof pan, pack in half the dough at the bottom of the pan, followed by the cream and cheese mixture, and top it with the rest of the dough.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cheese has melted and it looks golden and crisp, from the outside.
Drizzle in the simple syrup immediately and let it soak for 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped pistachios and rose petals and serve warm.